The house I grew up in had carpet glued to the floor in the kitchen. Yes, took forever to get all the pad scraped up.
definitely.. spot-on azimuth settings, correct volume output and bias adjustment to recording especially with a machine like that will always be to the next on playback. It makes my BX-100 and 150 sound like a million bucks
Finally got a Nakamichi ZX-7. I been recording for a week now with this machine. Unbelievable recording sound production. It makes a regular TDK tape to sound like a high dollar Super Ferric Type I. "Wicked" even if I play the tape to a different 2-head Nakamichi deck, the sound is a million bucks.. I wanna prepare to get this baby a full recap, so I wont worry about a 40 year old failure.
Do you still have that Advent 201? I'm trying to find a good quality photo of one for a book I'm writing on the history of technology in the music industry.
Had an bunch of Aiwa ADF-770's. What an amazing deck. Very hard to tell the difference between an LP and tape. But the winner is my Nakamichi 700 ZXL. 3,200$ in the 80's. Such quiet operation and musical. But, I only use it 4 times a year....
I have the 700 ZXE and I spent almost $1000 in 2003 to completely overhaul it (with recapping) by a Nak expert ...
After a several month spell of not playing it, my ZX-7 was suffering from some drop out/muffling issues when back in action. I cleaned everything I could get to thoroughly and it's working like a charm again. According to a lot of stuff I read, it's best to try to play these fairly regularly, and to clean every 10 cassettes or so for best long term performance. I will now give it a spin on a daily basis.
Try to play it atleast every 2 weeks. It will get better but sounds like you need a few recap to freshen out our deck.. ZX-7 is my favorite recording deck. After that few work don't, it sounds like a dream. Its very hard to beat it especially in recording makes the a regular type 1 tape sounding like a million bucks.
Willy Hermann did a full recap on it several years ago so I think I'm set there. If I run into more issues I'll certainly get in touch with him as I live fairly close to him. I really think it was just that it was sitting idle and literally collecting dust that caused the issue because after the cleaning it's been great all day. I'll use it more often now. Have a ton of tapes that I love so that won't be a problem.
It's a lovely deck. Really pleased to have mine. When I got it serviced a few years ago at one of the last remaining Nakamichi centres they said the caps were fine and in specification. But I'm like you and want to get them refreshed preemptively, to avoid issues down the road. So that's on the list.
Are they the original caps? My understanding is that once it's recapped it's probably good to go for years.
Yes, the originals. I tried to insist but the tech at B&W/Nakamichi was adamant they'd be fine. I bowed to his experience - and he did a fabulous and through job stripping the whole transport Downland rebuilding it - so I guess I should just enjoy the music. For now!
I bought a digital hand held recorder the other day and still learning to use it for concert audio recording. Anyways tried it on my playback amp and this was recorder on the xz7 then playback on a bx-150. I cant believe how clean it sounds. I wonder after the forth coming days when I mess with it more.. Julias Song Live - OMD 300B recorded on Tascam DR-40x on Air
I'm new today to the Forums. Perhaps this has been answered long ago but I wanted to inquire. Long time ago I saw a cassette deck in Melody Shop Dallas.......it had a beautiful display which indicated tape speed/direction with lights moving/blinking. Not sure what brand. Would you possibly know which decks were so visibly pleasing in that way? I really appreciate any advice/assistance. Thank you very much.
I paid almost $1,000 to have a Nak expert in the early 2000's to completely overhaul this deck but I have now been retired for over 10 years (took early retirement) ...
That's the way how it still is. Probably more money. Unless you find a deck today that that's like new or worked on with a Pro before selling it. I never had a good chance of buying anything on ebay they claimed as refurb or serviced. Every time I open the deck, the job they done is so bad that they should have just left it alone and sold it for what it is. Same thing as follows when I bought a 1975 Dual 701 turntable. If I wasn't looking for this particular model, I wont even go to that site. It specifically says, 'Completely serviced by a professional shop in AZ.' I went ahead and bought it. I even told him I don't mind paying 100.00 or more on packaging and shipping as long as the turntable is packed correctly. That means the platter is separated in another corrugated box, the arm is locked an cushioned, head shell or cartridge is in another small box, the table and cover is separately cushioned and floating. After all the initial request and as I got the package, the cover is shattered, atleast the table is saved with the tone arm is off the rest. When I open the inside, the lubrication is in 40+ year old condition, the RCA connection inside is corroded with a hum noise. 1 channel level is out. Its not even returning and cueing right.
The TT that I recently bought was packed like your specifications. It took me some 10 minutes to unpack everything. The balance weight was packed separately. Too bad it didn’t have an owner’s manual though. I don’t open up my gear because I don’t know what I’m doing. My TEAC deck was gone over too. It was risky I guess, but I looked for sellers with over 1,000 positive reviews. I don’t know how much longer before some of these tinkering sellers retire, so I felt that I had to take the chance now.
Its very hard to see on a 'selling feedback rate'. I'd buy from a guy that is even more pricey and had an 'armalited feedback' of service performance and lets say he done so many Nakamichi. I can tell you what I saw from different decks and why.. I opened so many decks that were done lets say a year go and whoever changed the belts just retro fitted and didn't clean and re-lube the capstan shafts correctly and the right lubing. especially the latest advanced lubes are better and they tend to last longer. If you put a 3 in 1 oil in these shafts, besides its not recommendable for its too thin and light, it will shortly produce a paraffin deposit just in a short time that will also case a drag. Not to mention if they didn't put the correct OEM belts, right there you already have an invisible (unnoticeable) excessive wow and flutter. There is a lot more steps to it that's needed to be done in some other areas so you'll have a much better chance in prolonging the life of your deck with a big smile.
